One week later

"I've got it!" Tobias insists, trying to hold up his bag. 

"No, you are supposed to be doing any heavy lifting, stop being such a dude!" I counter, grabbing it from his shoulder. 

He rolls his eyes, "I'm not a child Bea." 

I raise an eyebrow, "Yes, I know babe, but I'm not going to let you hurt yourself after going through... all of that." 

Tobias gives up, letting me carry his bag inside. He is going to be staying in our guest bedroom, at least until he can afford an apartment. I tried giving him some money from my job, but he refused. 

The door swings open, and Caleb grabs the bag from my arm. 

"Hey man, need help with anything else?" 

Tobias shakes his head, "No, I'm good. I didn't need help with my bag, but someone insisted." 

I step on the tips of my toes and kiss his cheek, "Oh, you love me. Admit it!" 

Tobias chuckles, "Of course I do." 

Caleb rolls his eyes, "Damn, you two are so...lovey dovey." 

"So!" Toby and I both retort, in unison. 

Caleb puts his hand up in mock surrender, "Sorry!" 

We go up to his room, which I expertly decorated. His bed is large, a queen, and I used his black sheets from his house. They are planning on selling it, since Tobias now has ownership over it, and I suppose that will be how he gets the rest of his money for an apartment. 

The walls are painted navy blue, with black accents. Tobias loves dark colors, but I wouldn't let him have an all black room. Some of our pictures are framed on the walls, and on the new oak dresser. He had some posters, so I kept those to one wall. Zeke and Uriah were forced to put away all of his clothes, mainly because I'm so abnegation I didn't want to touch my boyfriend's underwear. Most of his mementos are packed up, and placed in the spacious closet. 

I added a little bit of my own personal decorations, his initials in white canvas letters, which are wrapped in fairy lights, and some navy blue curtains. 

"This looks fantastic BumbleBea, thank you." Tobias says, giving me a sweet kiss. 

"This is what I'm talking about!" Caleb groans, before tossing Toby's bag on the bed. 

He walks out, shaking his head at us. Catching me by surprise, Tobias swings me into his arms, bridal style, and jumps onto the bed. I burst into giggles, a huge smile plastered across my cheeks. 

"Toby! What was that?" I laugh, turning to face him. 

He shrugs, "I don't know, but it made you laugh." 

My cheeks redden, something that happens a lot when I'm around Tobias. 

"I love it when you blush." 

I cover my face with my sleeves, trying to look away. Damn, this man...

"Bea, come on, I'm just playing around." He says, pulling my arms down. 

I grin, "I know, I just don't want you to see my face when it's this red." 

He laughs, and kisses my head, "It's adorable BumbleBea." 

Tobias wraps his arms around me, and pulls my small body close to his chest. I take in a breath of his scent, one that always brings me comfort. Even if it has an underlying 'hospital scent', it still smells like Tobias. 

"What are you two doing?" The yells of my mother interrupt an otherwise sweet moment. 

I turn over, so my body lays flat against the bed, "Laying down, why?" 

She peers at me, "There will be no funny busin-"

"Mom!" I stop her. 

She crosses her arms, "I'm just saying! You're teenagers, your hormones are-" 

"What did you come in here for?" I ask, trying to stop her from saying anything weird. 

She taps her foot, "Oh, yes, your friends are coming over for dinner, and I need help cooking." 

I sit up from the bed, "Fine, I'll be down in a minute." 

Mom trots downstairs, laughing to herself.

Tobias stands up, "Your Mom is..."

"Annoying? Overbearing? Embarrassing?" 

"I was going to say quirky." 

I laugh, "Sure, that's the nice way to say it." 

As Tobias changes into some more appropriate clothes, I find my way downstairs. Mom is rolling out some dough for egg noodles, which probably means she is going to make her home made chicken noodle soup. 

"What do you need me to do Mama?" I ask, hopping up onto the counter. 

She pushes me off, "Go ahead and chop up the celery, then add it to the chicken." 

I grab the vegetable knife, and a few stalks of celery. My movements are quick, as a result of Dad teaching me to cook. He's an amazing chef, and taught Caleb and I how to prep, and cook an abundance of recipes. 

It takes only a few minutes for the veggie to be diced into perfect pieces. I collect up the bits with my knife and drop the, into the broth. 

"What's next?" Tobias strolls into the kitchen, and leans against the counter. 

"Tobias! Honey, could you take out the chicken and get it chopped up?" Mom requests, not taking her eyes off of the dough in front of her. 

"What about me?" I ask, standing beside her. 

She looks around, "Chop up the carrots and half of the onion, I think." 

I take the knife from chopping celery, and get to work on the other vegetables. The knife moves rapidly, finely chopping the ingredients. 

"Where did you learn to do that?" Toby asks, watching over my shoulder. 

"My dad, he made the best, well, everything." I respond, tossing the onion into the soup. 

Tobias smirks, "You do a lot of things well." 

"That's what I was talking about!" Mom interjects. 

"Tobias stop being a perv. Mom stop being...annoying." I order. 

The both burst out laughing, although I don't find it entirely funny. After finishing with cooking,  Tobias and I lounge around on the couch, watching whatever passes by on the TV. 

 The peace is interrupted by the loud screams and laughing of our idiot friends. They parade through the door, and Christina pulls me up from the couch. She crushes my body in an unbearably tight hug. 

"What the hell? I saw you two days ago!" I push myself away from her. 

Christina crosses her arms, "Somebody is on their period!" 

I kick her shin, "That's beside the point!" 

Uriah and Zeke look traumatized, but the girls burst out laughing. I smirk, sitting back down. 

"So what's for dinner Mama Prior?" Uriah asks, walking into the kitchen. 

The aroma of her soup is beginning to waft over to the living room, so it smells delicious. 

"I've made some soup, but I am serving it. Uriah, the last time I cooked for you, you ate a full pizza." Mom says, laughing to herself. 

She' s not wrong. She spent all day making home made pizza and Uriah devoured one in twenty minutes. 

Zeke pushes me off the couch so he can sit by Tobias, but Toby pulls me back up onto his lap. 

"How are you feeling man?" Zeke asks. 

"Fine, would be better if you didn't push my girlfriend off of the couch." Tobias responds. 

Zeke rolls his eyes, "Why are you two attached at the hip? Come on, we need some bro time occasionally." 

Tobias raises an eyebrow, "You mean like... every week we have guys night? To be fair, Tris and I have both saved one another's lives." 

Zeke hesitates, before responding, "I guess that's fair." 

I stick out my tongue, which Zeke does back. 

"Come on kids! Dinner is ready!" Mom calls out from the kitchen, which results in a stampede of teenagers running towards the dining room. 

Our table is huge, made of oak, and seats twelve. We all pile around, and Mom sets out the bowls of soup. 

"Thanks Mrs. Prior!" Christina says, encouraging the others to do the same. 

My friends aren't the best at remembering manners. I take a bite, with the noodles, veggies, and chicken, and savor the taste. Mom has been making this soup for as long as I can remember, my grandma taught her at a young age. I've got a vague idea of how to make it, but nobody can coo the recipe as well as Mom. 

"This is delicious, thank you." Tobias says, drinking broth. 

"How are you already done?" I question, raising an eyebrow. 

He shrugs, "It's amazing, that's to your awesome mother." 

"Kiss ass." I roll my eyes. 

"Bite me." He teases. 

"Asshole!" 

"Bitch!" 

"Language!" My mother scolds, shaking her head at our banter. 

I laugh, giving her a cheesy grin. She returns the smile, and eats some of her own soup. After devouring the food, we watch movies together. Afterwards, the gang decides to stay over, so everybody piles into the living room. We have a couch, recliner, and a bean bag, but that's only enough room for four people to sleep on. 

Tobias and I head to our rooms, Lynn and Lauren on the couch, Marlene on the recliner, and Shauna on the bean bag. They kick their boyfriends to the floor. Once I toss a plethora of pillows and blankets at them, I head upstairs to sleep. 

Maybe it was the hearty food, or maybe I am just exhausted, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I drift off to a dreamless sleep.